Quartararo “keeping next year in mind”, Yamaha “multitasking” for 2024

But although Fabio Quartararo has been able to fight his way back into the top ten of the championship standings, including podiums at two of the past five rounds, victory still looks to be a long shot.

In terms of his chances at Sepang this weekend, the Frenchman will certainly need a big turnaround from the February test, where he and team-mate Franco Morbidelli were left just 19th and 20th fastest (on qualifying-style laps).

Quartararo also admits he's already turning some of his attention to 2024.

“Sepang is an especially great circuit to get a better understanding of where we can improve, already keeping next year in mind, which is not that far away anymore,” he said.

“Of course, these three last GPs are very important too, and we will be focusing on getting the best results possible, as always, but we also have to make sure that we prepare for 2024 as much as we can.

“In general, I‘m quite happy with how things are going. We usually struggle towards the end of the season, but this year we are doing well, so I want to keep it going that way.”

Team director Massimo Meregalli confirmed some future work will be undertaken while ‘multitasking’ in the remaining three rounds:

“We are down to the final three race weekends of the season, starting with the Malaysian GP this weekend.

“We will be multitasking throughout: we can already work towards 2024, and we will still try to go all out in the Sprints and Races, aiming for good results.”

Meanwhile, Franco Morbidelli is starting his final three races as a Yamaha rider, before switching to Pramac Ducati in 2024.

“The one-week break was a good opportunity to catch our breath for the final push of the 2023 season,” said Morbidelli, currently 13th in the world championship.

“We saw in Thailand that our speed and pace is up there, but the difficulties lie in our qualifying position, so we aim to work on that again this weekend.

“The Malaysian GP always comes with its own unique challenges: it can be sunny and very hot, which is physically demanding, or we can get one of the typical rainstorms and very wet conditions, which is mentally demanding, so we need to be ready for anything.

“We will do our best!

Quartararo and new team-mate Alex Rins will try an updated version of the 2024 Yamaha prototype at the Valencia test on November 28, when Morbidelli will get his first taste of the title winning Desmosedici.